1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a beverage vending machine.
It relates more particularly to a beverage vending machine comprising an upper part for containing at least one beverage ingredient receptacle in liquid or solid form from which a beverage is to be formulated, a lower part of the vending machine below the upper part defining a delivery recess for providing access to a dispensed cup containing the formulated beverage, a cup magazine interiorly of the vending machine above the level of the delivery recess for storing individual cups for delivery to a readiness position for receiving a metered amount of said beverage ingredient, a metering slide valve having a valve gate for receiving under control of gravity a given amount of said beverage ingredient for containing the amount received as a metered quantity for delivery into an individual cup at said readiness position, means for actuating said valve gate for delivering the metered quantity of beverage ingredient into cups successively disposed at said readiness position, means for delivering each cup containing said metered quantity into position into said delivery recess, and means for delivering a liquid into said cup while at said delivery recess for mixture with the beverage ingredient in the individual cup.
The beverage vending machine includes also means for selectively mixing said mixture within each said cup at said delivery recess and a plurality of receptacles for each containing a beverage ingredient, and in which said valve gate comprises a rotatable plate having a plurality of metering spaces positionable cyclically in registry with said receptacles, said receptacles each having a lower opening continuously open for delivery of the corresponding beverage ingredient into a corresponding metering space placed in registry with said lower opening, and said rotatable plate being rotatable to position individual metering spaces successively over successive cups at said readiness position.
However, it was found that when an electromagnet is used for imparting a reciprocating motion to the metering slide valve containing the water-soluble extract, this electromagnet had to be relatively powerfull. As a result, hunting was observed in operation and this is liable to cause shocks detrimental to the beverage vending machine.
On the other hand, the use of means for mixing the beverage, which comprise a driving member, grippers for picking up a stirring blade from a storage magazine and elements controlling the opening and/or closing movements of the grippers when picking up the stirring blade in the storage magazine or releasing the blade into the cup or tumbler, proved to be a relatively complicated, extremely expensive and cumbersome solution in that it occupied much space in the beverage vending machine.
Moreover, it was found that the movement of the cup containing the water-soluble extract from its loading area to its filling position under the pouring spout and subsequently to the access recess was not satisfactory. In fact, this movement is obtained by allowing the cup to slide by gravity along a guide chute. Now it appeared that in frequent cases the weight of the cup filled with a metered quantity of water-soluble extract was not sufficient for positively warranting this sliding movement.
It is essential object of the present invention to avoid these inconveniences.